CLEVELAND – The Detroit Tigers stood two outs away from a fate they hadn't suffered in at least 100 years.

Then, with one swing with one out in the ninth, J.D. Martinez turned perhaps their most exasperating loss of the season into their most exciting victory.

Martinez lined a three-run homer to center off Indians closer Cody Allen to wipe out a one-run deficit and give the Tigers a 4-2 victory Tuesday night.

"When I touched home, it was like, 'Did I touch every bag?' " Martinez said. "You get so amped up, and you get caught up in the situation. You know it's September. This is the month where you win or go home.

"I've never been on a team that had a chance to go to the playoffs (in pro ball), and I'm more excited about that than anything. I want to make the playoffs so bad."

Kansas City stayed a half-game ahead of the second-place Tigers in the AL Central on a night when none of its big three late-inning relievers pitched. Greg Holland, Wade Davis and Kelvin Herrera all had pitched the previous three days. As they got almost mandatory rest, their subs delivered two scoreless innings.

Francisley Bueno and Jason Frasor maintained a 1-1 tie in the eighth, and after catcher Salvador Perez's two-out infield hit put K.C. ahead, Aaron Crow threw a scoreless ninth to save the 2-1 win over Texas. The second-string bullpen came through and the catcher drove in the winner with an infield hit ... those are the kinds of things that happens when it's your year.

But the Royals' year still includes six games with the Tigers, whose own bullpen threw 32/3 scoreless innings Tuesday night. Phil Coke got the win, just as he did in Lobstein's first start last week.

With the Tigers down, 2-1, Torii Hunter led off the ninth with a walk, and Miguel Cabrera singled him to second. Victor Martinez flied out for the first out.

At that point, the Tigers were 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position. They had stranded 12 runners in the previous eight innings, and they had struck out 13 times.

And they had one run on 14 hits.

One run on 14 hits? According to Baseball-Reference.com, the Tigers hadn't scored one or fewer runs and had 14 or more hits in any game since at least 1914.

Only 13 times in the last 100 years had any big-league team, in a game that didn't go extra innings, get at least 14 hits and not score more than one run. "Very frustrating," J.D. Martinez said of those first eight innings.

"The great thing is (Kyle) Lobstein kept us in the game," J.D. Martinez added.

Lobstein, the rookie left-hander, went 51/3 innings and blanked Cleveland after he allowed Carlos Santana's two-run homer in the first. He struck out 10, matching his high for pro ball.

Five times in the first five innings, the Tigers had an at-bat with a runner at third with fewer than two out. This is the situation where a strikeout is an especially bad outcome for the offense. The reason is that with a runner on third and fewer than two out, making contact for an out can mean a run: a fly ball hit deep enough for the runner to tag up, or a groundout with the infield playing back and conceding the run.

On all five of those at-bats with a runner at third with fewer than two out, the Tigers trailed by a run. All five times, Carlos Carrasco imposed a strikeout on them. "We almost felt humiliated," J.D. Martinez said.

One of those five strikeouts came on a called third strike against J.D. Martinez, who didn't agree with umpire Mike Everitt's call.

"I was embarrassed that I couldn't get him in," he said. "All you've got to do is just hit a ball. At the same time, you've got tip your cap to Carrasco."

The first such instance came in the second. The first three hitters of the inning singled. The fourth, Alex Avila, drew a walk to force in the run that brought the Tigers within 2-1.

So it was bases loaded, nobody out. Carrasco struck out Eugenio Suarez swinging and Rajai Davis swinging. With two out, Ian Kinsler grounded out to leave the bases loaded.

Suarez singled with one out in the fourth and Davis doubled him to third. Carrasco fanned Kinsler for the second out, then fanned Torii Hunter, leaving Miguel Cabrera on deck.

Cabrera smashed a double into the leftfield corner to open the fifth. He stopped at third on Victor Martinez's single. The Tigers, down 2-1, had runners at first and third with none out.

J.D. Martinez took strike three. Nick Castellanos struck out swinging. There went the chance for a sacrifice fly for run-scoring grounder. Avila struck out looking for the third out.

In the fifth inning, as in the fourth inning, Carrasco had allowed two hits but struck out the side.

In the sixth, Davis singled and went to third on Kinsler's single. Carrasco (98 pitches) exited for right-hander Scott Atchison. Hunter was up with Cabrera on deck.

Hunter became the first Tiger in the game to make contact with a runner on third and fewer than two out. He grounded into an inning-ending double play.

In the ninth, after Hunter and Cabrera reached, J.D. Martinez would have ended the game if he had grounded into a double play. He did anything but. The outfielder was a minor-league signing late in spring training after Houston let him go; he wasn't on the Opening Day roster; and now he has 19 homers. When something like that happens, it might be your year.